if you
do----"

He paused as if to check too vehement an utterance, and M. Paul caught a
threatening gleam in his eyes that he long remembered.

"Why?"

"If you do, you will be thwarted at every turn, you will be made to suffer
in ways you do not dream of, through those who are dear to you, through
your dog, through your mother----"

"You dare--" cried Coquenil.

"We dare _anything_," flashed the stranger. "I'm daring something now, am I
not? Don't you suppose I know what you are thinking? Well, I take the risk
because--_because you are intelligent_."

There was something almost captivating in the very arrogance and
recklessness of this audacious stranger. Never in all his experience had
Coquenil known a criminal or a person directly associated with crime, as
this man must be, to boldly confront the powers of justice. Undoubtedly,
the fellow realized his danger, yet he deliberately faced it. What plan
could he have for getting away once his message was delivered? It must be
practically delivered already, there was nothing more to say, he had
offered a bribe and made a threat. A few words now for the answer, the
refusal, the defiance, and--then what? Surely this brusque individual did
not imagine that he, Coquenil, would be simple enough to let him go now
that he had him in his power? But wait! Was that true, _was_ this man in
his power?

As if answering the thought, the stranger said: "It is hopeless for you to
struggle against our knowledge and our resources, quite hopeless. We have,
for example, the _fullest_ information about you and your life down to the
smallest detail."

"Yes?" answered Coquenil, and a twinkle of humor shone in his eyes. "What's
the name of my old servant?"

"Melanie."

"What's the name of the canary bird I gave her last week?"

"It isn't a canary bird, it's a bullfinch. And its name is Pete."

"Not bad, not at all bad," muttered the other, and the twinkle in his eyes
faded.

"We know the important things, too, all that concerns you, from your
_forced resignation_ two years ago down to your talk yesterday with the
girl at Notre-Dame. So how can you fight us? How can you shadow people who
shadow you? Who watch your actions from day to day, from hour to hour? Who
know _exactly_ the moment when you are weak and unprepared, as I know now
that you are unarmed _because you left that pistol with Papa Tignol_."

For a moment Coquenil was silent, and then: "Here's your money," he said,
r